


bury a friend

by morningssofgold



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21989680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningssofgold/pseuds/morningssofgold
Summary: Dani rescues Malcolm from Lazar's kidnapping post 1x10.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 20
Kudos: 109





	bury a friend

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A New Normal](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840046) by [morningssofgold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningssofgold/pseuds/morningssofgold). 



> _What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?_   
>  _What are you wondering? What do you know?_   
>  _Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?_   
>  _When we all fall asleep, where do we go?_
> 
> _bury a friend_ // Billie Eilish

Dani straightened her shoulders and mentally took a deep breath as she adjusted her bulletproof vest. This wasn’t her first rescue mission and she was by no means a rookie at all of this but she couldn’t control the anxiety that reverberated through her entire being and had been for nearly three days. Dani knew her face gave nothing away as she was known for her exceptionally calm demeanor, especially on the job but this was no ordinary rescue mission by a long shot.

It had been almost 72 hours since Malcolm Bright, her friend had gone missing. The team had quickly figured out that he had been kidnapped by Paul Lazar, the infamous serial killer they had been tracking for weeks now. They had been searching for Malcolm nonstop, following the profile that Malcolm himself had authored but to no avail. Lazar had been two steps ahead of them the entire time until Gil decided that they follow Lazar’s personal connection to Malcolm.

Dani’s anxiety had worsened as she realized that they had been going in circles while God only knew what was happening to her friend. At some point, her stoic facade must’ve slipped and Gil had pulled her aside, squeezing her shoulder and telling her reassuringly that “We’re gonna get our boy back.” She’d nodded, mentally telling herself to get her game face back on. This was no time to falter, she had a job to do.

Gil had ultimately been right as he often was and Lazar had been keeping Malcolm far off the beaten path in an abandoned cabin surrounded by woods, miles upon miles outside of the city limits. It was the place he and Martin Whitly had claimed their first victim, a young woman. Dani had tried to keep her mind off of the word _victim_. Her friend was not a victim, he couldn’t be.

––––––––––––––––––––––

Dani only half listened as Colette Swanson, the FBI agent who had taken control of their Junkyard Killer case, went over the plan for how this was going to go as they prepared to disembark. Unbeknownst to Swanson, _she_ knew exactly how this was going to go. She was going to find Malcolm. Dani had no patience for Swanson’s attempt at playing general. Her friend was out there suffering and he needed her. Well, perhaps not _her_ , specifically but he needed someone.

She still didn’t know nor care why Swanson had it out for Malcolm. The veteran agent had targeted Dani specifically, hoping she’d be the one to sell him out. That would never happen as the team was her family and family was everything. In Swanson’s mind, Malcolm Bright was too unpredictable, too unwieldy, too dangerous and too much like his father. He couldn’t be trusted. 

Dani remembered the way Swanson’s overly microbladed brows had risen in disapproval when she disagreed. Malcolm was a lot of things. He was unorthodox, confusing and he played fast and loose with his own life far too often but he was also one of the kindest, most compassionate people she’d ever met. He was a good man and a gentle soul, that she knew for certain. Dani didn’t trust many people but Malcolm had earned it. She had his back because she knew he’d have hers.

––––––––––––––––––––––

Malcolm didn’t know how long he’d been lying here. Time had long stopped existing for him. He was chained to the ground, unable to really move. His body was in so much pain, he couldn’t actually move if he wanted to. Lazar had left him, growing bored of his inability to crack. His father’s friend had hoped to watch as the madness and pain consumed him, giving a nice little show until it was time for his inevitable end.

Malcolm wore masks his entire life and he would not give Lazar the satisfaction of seeing him break. He had taunted Lazar, saying that he was “a pretty good screamer.” He made a show of being unaffected, of being strong but the darkness had already started clawing at the edges of his consciousness. Over and over, he saw images of himself as a child being forced to hold a blade over a young woman–the girl in the box. She looked so very scared. He should’ve done something–anything to help her. Malcolm remembered his father mockingly asking him if there was a reason he waited so long to call the police, deeply enjoying his torment. He had been complicit in her demise or at least he thought so.

That knowledge drew the darkness a little closer and he wondered idly if he succumbed to it; would this get easier, would the pain stop?

 _I don’t think that’s true._

As the darkness threatened to claim him, thoughts of his friend chased it away. _Dani_. Fierce, beautiful and perfect. Malcolm could be honest about how he saw her because he was the only one here. She protected him. She took care of him. She believed in him when no one else did, _I don’t think that’s true_ , he repeated her words once again in his mind. Those had been her last words to him. He had been in the midst of a panic attack, facing the realization that no matter what he did and how hard he tried, he would never be normal. Her big brown eyes were filled with compassion not pity or disgust.

Dani’s conviction had shaken him, he didn’t know what to do with it and he certainly didn’t deserve it. He had hurriedly made up some excuse about being late to his family’s Christmas dinner–anything to get away from those eyes that saw him–all of him and didn’t flinch nor run. Now, memories of those eyes were the only thing keeping him here. Keeping him present.

––––––––––––––––––––

As Swanson went over the plan once more with the team minus Gil and all of the backup officers that accompanied them, Dani slipped away, soldiering through the thick trees in search of the cabin where Lazar was likely holding Malcolm hostage. The coordinates had been sent to her phone and she followed them with single-minded purpose, her training and instincts guiding her path.

After what seemed like forever, she arrived at the dilapidated structure. Her heart sped up knowing that Malcolm was likely within her reach. She didn’t rush to him, instead choosing to draw her gun and slowly make her way to the door. Dani moved carefully, keeping her head on a swivel, making sure the psychotic killer hadn’t been waiting for the moment some cop decided to play hero. The coast appeared to be clear but she still made her way inch by inch, watching her combat booted feet incase the area was rigged. Thankfully, it wasn’t. Pressing her back to the wall and jiggling the knob, she slowly opened the door. 

She was surprised that an alleged criminal mastermind like Lazar had left the door unlocked like this but she quickly realized that he didn’t exactly expect anyone to ever find Malcolm. That fact settled like lead in the pit in her stomach but Dani wouldn’t get distracted, once again she had a job to do. 

As opposed to announcing her presence, something she’d do if she had backup, Dani slipped in quietly, her flashlight illuminating what looked less like an abandoned home and more like what it was, which is somewhere unimaginable human suffering had taken place. Dani shined her flashlight, watching the beam bounce off of the stone walls. There was no sign of Lazar but the light landed on a huddled figure lying in the middle of the floor.

_That’s Bright!_

“I found him! I’ve got Bright,” she called over the walkie-talkie to alert everyone as she holstered her gun. Dani’s relief quickly turned to horror as she realized that she might’ve gotten there too late. Malcolm wasn’t moving. “I’ve got him. Lazar is still on the loose. Don’t come here, find him.”

“You what?! Powell, I swear–” Dani heard the fury coming from Swanson at the fact that she’d been not only undermined but upstaged. Dani cut off the communication, instead opting to call for an ambulance. She couldn’t deal with Swanson’s bitching, not right now. Dani knew she had broken rules and disobeyed a superior officer but at the end of it, that woman wasn’t her boss and Gil would cover her. That's what they did. They protected their own and that was the reason she did what she did–what she had to do.

 _Is that the only reason?_ The question circled around in her mind and Dani pushed it aside as quickly as it arrived. There was no time for that. Whatever her feelings might be for the mercurial profiler, she’d deal with it later. Getting him to safety was all she cared about.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Bright,” she called his name softly, putting her hands on his shoulders as she gently tried to draw him out of the fetal position he was curled in. She ached at how this was the only way he could protect himself from whatever Lazar had done to him. His crisp blue dress shirt was now dirty and tattered, stained with his own blood. His handsome face was bruised, his always neatly combed hair was messy and matted with blood. She also noticed he was barefoot. Her heart shattered. What had happened in this room? She grew nauseous at the possibilities.

Dani kept trying to stir him, her body turning to ice when he remained unresponsive. Her fingers slowly traveled to his pulse, it still beat steadily. She exhaled. Malcolm was alive, he was badly injured but injures heal.

“Bright, it’s Dani. Everything’s going to be okay,” she tried again, once she finally was able to get him on his back.

She watched as his eyelids fluttered and she leaned in closer, wanting to make sure he saw her. She wanted him to know he was safe and this was all over. Malcolm’s eyes slowly opened, his customarily bright blue eyes looked dull and bleary. He blinked, seeing her but not really. Dani could tell he was trying to decide if she was real or not–if this was real or not. If he were really getting rescued after days of wishing in vain for it. “Bright, it’s okay. I’m here now,” she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Dani didn’t know what she’d said or more specifically what he’d heard but in a burst of strength she didn’t realize he still had; Malcolm shot up, crushing himself to her. The force was enough to knock the wind out of her chest. Her arms wrapped around him reflexively and she could feel the tremors running through his entire body, his soft wordless sobs making them worse. “It’s okay, Bright, I’ve got you,” she soothed as though she were comforting a child. Dani rubbed his back softly, careful not to disturb the wound that went up the length of his torso. The last thing she wanted was to cause him more pain. 

At her words, he curled his body around her as if he could disappear inside of her. Malcolm shifted in her arms so that his face was buried in the crook of her neck and she carded her hands through his hair, the warm stickiness of his blood catching on her fingers. _Where the hell was the ambulance?_

Dani realized belatedly that he was still chained. Though slightly difficult with Malcolm nearly sitting in her lap, she looked around and spied a pair of bolt cutters in the corner. She gently tried to extricate herself from him in order to get to them, “Nononono, please don’t. Please don’t leave–" Malcolm clutched at her even harder, his arms winding around her neck, making it a little hard to breathe.

“Malcolm, I’m not leaving you,” she hushed softly, trying to calm him down, realizing that this was the first time she’d ever used his first name. Dani tried to get enough space between the two of them so she could look him in the face. His lovely ice blue eyes were bloodshot and panicked. The sheer terror in them made her want to wrap him up once again to make him feel safe but she had to cut him free.

“You always leave. I see you sometimes but you never stay,” he mumbled more to himself than to her. Dani didn’t quite follow but Malcolm sounded so much like the lost little boy she imagined he had been at one time that her already broken heart fissured once more.

Dani realized right then that she’d been wrong and Malcolm didn’t actually think she was real. That she had really come to rescue him. He thought his mind was once again playing tricks on him. Dani couldn’t imagine what Lazar had done to him in order to remove all hope that he’d ever be safe again. She could see his physical injuries but she was starting to worry about what had been done to him inside.

She put her hands on both sides of his face, hoping her touch would help him, anchor him. “Malcolm, sweetheart, I’m here and I’m not leaving. But I need to get you free, okay?” He still didn’t look like he truly believed her and suddenly an idea came to mind.

She pulled the hairband out of her hair, freeing it from the high ponytail it had been in. She shook out her curls and watched as Malcolm’s nearly translucent eyes widened and she could swear she saw a flash of recognition. His shackled hand slowly went up toward her face, lightly brushing his fingers against her curls as if touching a mirage that would disappear in front of his eyes.

“Dani?” He questioned, his voice small and scared.

She smiled, “I’m here, Malcolm.” She pressed her hairband into his hand, folding his fingers over it, “This is so you know I’m real.”

He looked down at the small accessory and her hand covering his. “I’m gonna go over there to get the bolt cutters, we need to get these off of you. I want my hairband back, so when I come back to you, I want you to give this to me. Okay?”

Malcolm nodded mutely and Dani scrambled out from under him. Hurrying to the far side of the room, kicking aside the unidentifiable crap Lazar kept there before snatching up the bolt cutters. Dani rushed back over to him, using all her strength to cut him free in short order. “Can I have this back?” She asked gently, covering his hand with hers once again. Malcolm never looked up, he just stared at the hairband and their hands together.

“Sweetheart, please?” Dani tried again and Malcolm seemed to react to the endearment, slowly and hesitantly relaxing his clinched fist so she could gently take the hairband from him. His nearly translucent eyes slowly traveled up to meet hers and for the first time since she found him, she could see a hint of her friend behind them.

–––––––––––––––––––––

“Powell? What the hell happened out there?” Gil asked as Dani stepped out of the back of the ambulance. His brows furrowing as he stared her down like a disappointed father. She’d been on the receiving end of that look before though far more often since Malcolm had entered her life.

Once the paramedics had arrived, Malcolm had insisted that Dani not leave him, growing agitated and panicky once more when all of those strange and unfamiliar hands started reaching for him. To keep them from sedating him, something she knew made him feel trapped, she’d climbed in the back of the ambulance. Her presence had comforted him and she held his hand the entire way through, gently running her fingers over the angry red welt that the rusted shackles had left behind.

“I had to go to him,” she answered honestly.

Gil put his hands on his hips, the disappointed father look intensifying. “Powell, do you know how stupid that was? We have rules and regulations we follow, you know that. Lazar could’ve killed you both. You’re a damn good cop but you’re not Superwoman for Christ’s sake!”

Gil looked at the young detective who was as much a daughter to him as anyone and he realized just how close he had come to losing both of the kids he’d never had. Though Dani looked apologetic and thoroughly chastised, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she had a choice, she’d do it all over again. 

Gil didn’t know everything about the depth of Malcolm and Dani’s friendship but he knew that Malcolm had somehow become hers to protect and while he appreciated that someone was looking out for the human trouble-magnet he’d all but raised, he didn’t appreciate the stress-induced migraines the two of them were almost sure to cause him in the future. They were two parts of a whole and it was only a matter of time before they realized it–if they hadn’t already.

––––––––––––––––––

Malcolm awoke to a distant but steady beeping near his ear. He stirred, wondering why on Earth his whole body hurt. He looked down at the I.V. embedded in his arm and realized a little slowly that he was in the hospital, though judging by the cherry wood furnishings and the plush carpeting, he was likely in a suite in the Milton wing courtesy of his mother. 

His mind was foggy due to the likely horse tranquilizer strength medication needed to properly knock him out. He shifted, attempting to shake off the stiffness as he tried to get to his good side not the one that was currently mummified with bandages. Malcolm sighed, realizing that the simple act of turning over took more strength than he had currently.

Looking up, his eyes landed on a small figure curled up in a ball on the black leather loveseat near his hospital bed. He was shocked to find that it was Dani. She was dressed in an oversized gray tee and black yoga pants. Her curls were splayed over the arm rest. Though the position looked a bit uncomfortable, her agonizingly beautiful face looked peaceful in a way that he’d never seen before. He’d seen many of Dani’s faces before, most often her amused and annoyed ones but never this one. Malcolm watched the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest and his heart clenched painfully. Dani was _so_ pretty and he shouldn’t even be allowed to appreciate it.

––––––––––––––––––

Slowly everything came back to him. He had been kidnapped by Paul Lazar. He didn’t know for how long as the time had stretched on endlessly. The physical and mental anguish had made a home within him and the thoughts of the woman sleeping soundly less than two feet away were the only thing that made it bearable. The madness wanted to claim him but Dani wouldn’t allow it. 

Malcolm remembered seeing Dani’s anxious face peering over him and he thought it was another vision his mind had created to help him through it all. He’d held onto her as though his life depended upon it. As though she were his lifeline. Maybe she was. Her arms had provided a safety and security unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He remembered burying himself in the crook of her neck, her light Dove soap scent had eased his ravaged mind, chasing away all remnants of Lazar. Malcolm hadn’t known if she were real and at that moment, he really didn’t care. He wanted–needed that relief and only Dani could give it to him.

Combing through the depths of his heavily medicated mind, he remembered she’d called him by his first name. It was nice but he liked being “Bright” to her. From the age of ten, Malcolm was the person he couldn’t stop running from. Dani had also called him, “sweetheart.” The endearment had calmed him then but it made his heart twist painfully now. He unconsciously brought a bandaged hand to his chest as if to physically ward off the ache.

 _That can never be_. He was too damaged, too messy, too everything and Dani deserved far more than he was capable of giving. What life could he realistically offer someone? He’d already tried that and failed miserably. _Dani’s different though_ , a little voice whispered and he shut it down, pretending the thought had never occurred in the first place.

**Author's Note:**

> I alluded to Dani saving Malcolm in one of my other fics so I wanted to try my hand at how I'd actually like to see it happen.


End file.
